Autumn in the North East and Another Bridge

Nature Girl and I set off for Vermont this weekend to visit my mother and grandmother. We stopped at a rest stop along the way and snapped this lovely picture. Fall in the North East is beautiful! While we were visiting we took the short trip to Bath,NH to look at a second covered bridge. We discovered the Brick Store next to the covered bridge. The Brick Store is advertised as the oldest general store in America so we had to go take a look. We walked around looking at some of the original merchandise that was displayed in glass cases. In the end we purchased apple juice, tootsie pops, a Coke and a bottle of water to hold on the bee sting Mimi got outside near the store and covered bridge.

The Bath Bridge is the longest covered bridge in NH. It's a one lane bridge that is still in use. We explored it on foot first and took these pictures before climbing in the car to drive over the bridge.This is a partial side view of the bridge. It's a long covered bridge!
Mimi and Nature Girl took in the view before walking over the bridge. This sign was hanging on the inside of the bridge. The picture isn't the best but I thought the sign was neat.

This is the view from the covered bridge. I thought it was lovely with all of the fall colors!
We took Nature Girl to an apple orchard last weekend to pick apples. We've been doing this each fall since she was a year old. Nature Girl picked apples with her preschool class this fall but we didn't get enough apples for baking on that trip. So we trekked off to the orchard on a lovely, sunny afternoon last weekend. Nature Girl was determined to pick only the juiciest apples. Here she is with her first apple which she proclaimed the juiciest apple. She also had the chance to choose a pumpkin. She looked at each pumpkin in the pile and finally decided on this one because it was "The perfect pumpkin!" I hope you're enjoying Autumn too!

One Good Book Package

The first package for the One Good Book Swap arrived at my house this week! My bloggy friend Val signed her two children up for the swap. I partnered her son with me asking for a book and package for my 4th graders at school. They are struggling readers who need to learn that reading can be fun. Well, Val and her son have certainly helped with that! They sent not just one book but 25 books!!!! They included Captain Underpants, Ricky Ricotta and Goosebumps which are all favorites of my fourth graders. They just finished up state testing on Friday so they don't know about this wonderful package yet! They are going to be so excited on Monday!!!
Also included in the package was a bookmark project, flower pins, a honeybee snack recipe, bee cupcake toppers, a bee fingerprint art project and my favorite a bee finger puppet. My school teaches the students to be respectful, be responsible and be safe. We have a bee as a mascot. Val had asked about the mascot and designed the package around it.
She wrote "Something I learned years ago is that bees are an enigma. They are not built anatomically correct for flight. It is a mystery as to why they can actually fly. Maybe they can inspire your class to reach new heights of achievement this year." That really touched me! Inspiration is something my students could certainly use. Thank you for this wonderful and inspiring package, I know the kids are going to love it!
Val included books for Nature Girl and this amazing acorn and squirrel she made. When I saw this set on her blog, I loved it and knew Nature Girl would love something like this! Val sent it for Nature Girl. It was love at fist sight!!!! Squirrely and his acorn house went to school with Nature Girl for show and tell on Friday. Really it's so cool, the top comes off the acorn and the squirrel nests inside. You can see better pictures here on Val's blog. Val is sooo talented! I love her amigurumi creations. Check out her blog to see some of the other amazing amigurumi things she has made. I needed to learn how to make some of these amazing amigurumi creations.
This amigurumi bee finger puppet was buzzing around the house tickling Nature Girl and causing lots of laughs. He also became great friends with Squirrely. Alas the bee will be flying to school where I'll be using him in the preschool class. One of our class jobs is the busy bee. The busy bee helps with calendar time and classroom errands. The bee puppet will fit in perfectly with our preschool routine. (Note: Nature Girl is eating a strawberry Twizzler in the picture. She just saw the picture and said what's that? Twizzlers are her favorite candy.)
Thank you Val and Ripstick Boy for the book package!!! I can't thank you enough. I'm very excited about creating the package for Ripstick boy. While I wait for the book to arrive I'm working on a few goodies for the package. I hope everyone else is having fun with the book swap. I can't wait to see what everyone creates!